


Stupid girl

by Prawnperson



Series: Alternate universes [5]
Category: Don’t Starve (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Listen I don’t blame her I’d Have a breakdown out there too, SW family, Warly’s like her brother/mum friend, Wilbur’s the weird dog, Woodlegs is like Walani’s dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-27 13:15:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20408344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prawnperson/pseuds/Prawnperson
Summary: In which Walani has a rant and gets comforted.





	Stupid girl

She’s been like this for the past few days. The others aren’t sure why. The only theory they have is the flooding of part of the base. It’s starting to worry them.

“You seem a little blue this evening.”

“Piss off.”

The words come from the surfer unexpectedly. She pokes at the bouillabaisse in front of her. The others have never known her to pick at her food before.

“Oh, cheer up, Walani. We’ll have the alchemy engine dried up in no time. Woodlegs is already working on the sandbags.”

Warly goes to lay his hand on her shoulder, and doesn’t expect her to flinch away with a cry of anger.

“You just don’t get it, do you?! We’re stuck on this shitty island with no way off, and I’m sick to death of it!”

“Walani, please-“

“No! Just...shut up! For once!”

She’s loud enough to alert Woodlegs from his boat, sailed just far enough out to still see the other three clearly yet in deep enough water to not feel the maddening itch under his skin that comes with being on dry land.

“Sometimes, I just want to be a normal nineteen year old girl! I want to go to the mall, and buy eyeshadow, and complain about burning myself on a hot seatbelt, or whatever the hell people my age do! I’ve gone so long I’ve forgotten what I used to do before I came to this grief hole! Sometimes, I don’t want to feel like a pirate, or a surfer, or anything like that. I just want to feel nice, and pretty, and normal!”

The two men share a concerned wince whilst Wilbur scampers up a tree, away from the unpleasant noise of an angry girl’s voice.

“Come on, now. You’re not some air-headed teen. You have smarts! You know how to survive!”

“But I shouldn’t have to! I should be able to be stupid and immature without fear of getting my arm bitten off by some God forsaken monkey! It’s-it’s infuriating! What’s worse is you two pretending like it’s such a grand day out!”

Warly takes a small step backwards and barely avoids stepping on the ashes below the crockpot.

“Pardon?”

“You and old man ocean in the boat. You two always pretend like this is all fine and good, and it’s not! It never will be! We’re going to die out here with nothing to our names but a stack of rocks and a God damn pot!”

With that, Walani collapses onto the log-made-seat beside the fire pit, burying her face in her hands with a loud sob. Her shoulders shake with the force of her cries. Warly turns his over his shoulder to Woodlegs, who nods wordlessly.

“Now, now, now. Come on, stupid girl. Don’t do this.”

Warly sits down next to her on the overturned log, awkwardly placing his hands on her shoulders and pulling her into a half hug. He rubs at her back in a way he hopes is soothing as she continues to bawl her eyes out. She doesn’t see Woodlegs come over, but she does feel his arm loop loosely over her shoulder.

As much as he hates being on land, this seems important.

“Don’t go cryin’, lass. That’s his job.”

Woodlegs jabs his thumb at Warly, and Walani manages a hollow little laugh between her crying.

They hold her through her crying until she calms enough to sit up from her slumped position. Warly lays out grass and logs in the fire pit, manages to make a spark whilst Woodlegs keeps whispering his best attempts at comfort to Walani.

“You need to be tellin’ is these things, dear.”

Walani hiccups wetly and nods. The other two humans are sure they feel their hearts break at the sight of her, eyes red rimmed and face blotchy as she sniffles weakly.

“Yes, no more bottling things up. You went off your food. We were worried about you.”

Walani scrubs at her eyes, only stops whenever Warly tuts at her and tells her that’s how she’ll hurt them. Wilbur scampers out briefly from the jungle behind them and throws a bundle of grass at the back of her head, seemingly making an offering of appeasement. Walani can’t help but break into a small smile, resulting in the other two survivors making noises of appreciation.

“There’s the Walani we all know ‘n’ love!”

“And get annoyed at whenever she steals our sea shells to fix her board.”

It’s said in a teasing way, and Walani giggles again, slightly warmer this time.

“Thanks, guys...”

There’s a moment of brief silence. The survivors look up at the moon. It’s like a decoration in the sky. Some great, silvery shard of glass hung up against the backdrop of darkness. The quiet is broken only by Woodlegs’ knees creaking as he gets up.

“I’m away back to the sea ‘for I go batshit crazy.”

“Language, Woodlegs!”

Walani finally laughs properly at the genuinely offended tone in Warly’s voice as he makes an effort to smack at Woodlegs with the spoon in his hands.

———

“You should go surfing tomorrow. The one time I’ll encourage it, I assure you.”

Walani smiles as she looks over the scene with her face half pressed into the pillow of her sleeping roll: Woodlegs sleeping silhouette on his beloved boat, a dark image similar to one from a story book against the water, and Warly, trying his best to be comforting without somehow inadvertently referencing food.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever, mom.”

Warly rolls his eyes and lays flat on his own bedroll beside hers.

“Stupid girl.”

Wilbur makes his way towards Walani and curls himself up beside her like a small dog. She yawns, shuts her eyes, happy in the knowledge she probably won’t be eaten in the company of others, and finds herself sleeping more peacefully than she has for a good few nights.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on my friend and I using “stupid girl” as a term of endearment whenever one of us feels sad, so please don’t think it’s bullying aha.


End file.
